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Amaretto is a liqueur with an ancient history, a complex recipe, a pleasant refined aroma and a bitter original taste. Today we will talk about Italian almond liqueur, and also try to repeat its mysterious recipe in two different ways.
Well, who does not remember all this post-Soviet entourage: skinhead guys with necks like a doctor’s sausage, raspberry jackets, Turkish chocolate, canned Polish sausages, the first Coca-Cola, Hubba Bubba chewing gum, and in the center of it all – sparkling, an enticing bottle of Amaretto liqueur, captivating with its novelty, which is no longer a forbidden fruit.
However, in vain we attributed “Amaretto” to all this dubious magnificence. Amaretto is a liqueur with an ancient history, a complex recipe, a pleasant refined aroma and a bitter original taste. Its place is not in the sideboard of some tycoon’s shabby hut, but in the hands of a skilled bartender or just a connoisseur who will be able to pay tribute to all the unique properties of this elegant drink.
Today we will talk about Italian almond liqueur, find out where it came from and how it is produced, and also try to repeat the mysterious Amaretto recipe at home in two different ways. At the same time, bones that are left over from apricot wine or tinctures will come in handy.
How is Amaretto liqueur made?
“Amaretto” in Italian is a diminutive form of the word “Amaro”, which means “bitter” – this is how all Italian bitters are called. Amaretto is made on the pits of apricot and almonds, which are bitter, wild, rich in hydrocyanic acid. In order for the acid to decompose, the almonds are insisted on grape syrup, and then they are distilled. In the manufacture of Amaretto at home, almost harmless sweet almonds are used.
Also, the Amaretto recipe necessarily includes apricot seeds, sometimes the drink is made only on their basis, even without almonds. In addition, a number of spices are used in the manufacture, including vanilla, licorice, mint, cloves, cinnamon and much more.
A distinctive feature of Amaretto is the traditional square bottle. Allegedly, it was created by the glaziers of the island of Murano, especially so that a lover of almond liqueur could even identify it by touch among dozens of other drinks.
History of Amaretto liqueur
Oddly enough, the history of Amaretto began long before the 1990s. Like many other balms and elixirs, it was created in medieval Europe, in the north of modern Italy, near the town of Saronno. The authors of the liquor are, as usual, monks. Whether they treated the sick with herbs and spices, or simply, like you and me, had fun making unusual tinctures – is unknown. The first mention of “Amaretto” refers to the XVI century.
Once upon a time there lived in Milan a young artist named Bernardino Luini, one of da Vinci’s students. The boy had a lot of luck – he received a state order for the image of the face of the Madonna in the local Dominican monastery. Bernardino thought about it – after all, in order to draw the Mother of God herself, a model is needed, corresponding to the image of the most holy beauty, kindness and restraint. Hundreds of the most beautiful models passed through the workshop of the creator, but none of them gave him due satisfaction.
Weeks and months went by like this, the customer pressed on with the deadline, so Luini fled Milan away from his eyes, looking for a god-equal ideal throughout Italy. And he found him not just anywhere, but just in Saronno, in the person of the widowed owner of a small hotel. Bernardino sat down to work on the sketch. Word for word – and love broke out between a man and a woman. Trying to delay the parting, milady more and more often treated the painter with a local drink – bitter, like separation and sweet, like a satisfied passion, light, like a fleeting love and beating in the head, like an injection of burning jealousy. From Saronno, Luini brought two things at once – a sketch of his famous “Madonna” and a recipe for “Amaretto”.
Two recipes for Amaretto at home – simple and complex
Despite the fact that the manufacturer hides some of the ingredients of his legendary drink, it is still possible to unravel its composition. There are two ways – a simple one, as a result of which we will get a practical, but still imitation of a liquor, and a complex one, which will give us Amaretto, almost 100% repeating the original.
Yes, I completely forgot. The Internet is full of dubious recipes for pseudo-amaretto made from bird cherry bark. Be prudent. Firstly, you still won’t get anything like Amaretto. Secondly, the bark, leaves and seeds of bird cherry contain amygdalin glycoside, which releases hydrogen cyanide during hydrolysis, which is also poisonous hydrocyanic acid. Thirdly, quite affordable and simple ingredients are used for the classic Amaretto recipe – why reinvent the wheel? And if you have an excess of bird cherry, it’s better to make a tincture from its berries, the recipe is here.
Easy Homemade Amaretto Recipe
- 0,5 liters of vodka;
- 50 grams of almonds;
- 50 grams of apricot kernels;
- 150 ml of water;
- 350 grams of sugar;
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar (or vanillin – on the tip of a knife);
- a pinch of cinnamon;
- 2 cloves;
- 3 peas of allspice;
- 3 grams (1.5 sachets) of good instant coffee.
How to cook:
- Almonds are poured with boiling water and infused for a couple of minutes so that the skin can be removed from it.
- Peeled almonds are roasted on a dry surface until golden brown. In the process of frying, cloves and allspice should also be thrown into the pan so that they better reveal the aroma in the tincture.
- Separately, we prepare caramel from sugar and water. Sugar is poured into a frying pan, preferably Teflon, a third of water is added to it, the mixture is heated over low heat until it acquires a brownish color and caramel flavor. When this happens, the rest of the water is poured into the syrup and vanillin is added.
- Roasted almonds, cloves, peppers, apricot kernels and cinnamon are poured into a jar and carefully poured over with hot syrup.
- After the contents of the jar have cooled, vodka is poured into it and coffee is poured. Everything is shaken well and sent to a dark place for a month (no more than 6 weeks!). The mixture should be shaken periodically.
- At the end of the term, homemade Amaretto is filtered using several layers of gauze or in another available way.
A good imitation of Amaretto is ready!
A complex recipe for Amaretto liqueur “Disaronno”
- vodka – 750 ml;
- cognac (brandy) – 200 ml;
- apricot kernels – a quarter cup (about 70 ml)
- Almonds (raw) – XNUMX/XNUMX cup
- anise (not star anise) – a quarter cup
- fennel (seeds) – 3 tbsp. l.;
- pitted cherries – a quarter cup (about 5-6 pieces);
- peach or apricot (chopped) – a quarter of a glass;
- dried apricots (chopped) – a quarter of a glass;
- mint (ground leaves) – 2 tsp;
- black pepper – 2 peas;
- cloves – 2 things;
- allspice – 1 pea;
- water – half a cup;
- cinnamon – cut off 0.5 – 0.6 cm from the stick and finely chop;
- vanilla extract (how to prepare it – see this article, in principle, it can be replaced with ordinary vanilla)
- sugar, water (for syrup) – as needed.
Step one:
- Dried apricots are soaked in half a glass of water for 3-4 hours – until the berries swell.
- Peaches or apricots are cut into small pieces, sent to a jar for infusion along with dried apricots and cherries. Fruit should immediately be poured with half of the vodka, add all the cognac.
- Almonds, apricot kernels, anise, fennel and all other spices are crushed either in a mortar or in a coffee grinder, after which they are poured into a jar along with ground mint.
- The mixture is infused for 4 weeks, periodically it needs to be shaken well. At the end of the second week of infusion with a wooden spoon, you need to thoroughly crush the pieces of fruit. For the last 4-5 days, do not touch the jar so that the sediment exfoliates.
- The tincture is carefully drained from the sediment and filtered several times through a cotton swab or other dense filter.
Step two:
- Prepare caramelized sugar syrup (as in the previous recipe).
- Separately, prepare regular sugar syrup from equal parts water and sugar.
- Mix the ingredients in this proportion: three parts tincture, three parts pure vodka, 2 parts sugar syrup, 1 part caramel syrup, 1/3 part vanilla extract.
- Almost ready homemade Amaretto needs to stand for another 3-4 days, remove from the sediment and filter.
Congratulations! You yourself have prepared the legendary “Amaretto” at home! It is customary to use it as a digestif, with ice cream, chocolate, fruit, nuts, add a little to tea or coffee, and also drink it as part of various cocktails.